Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved communities, especially his own—the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cypress Hills. In 2020, he left politics to take the helm of the Freelancers Union, where he’s putting his experience to work growing the Freelance Isn’t Fre...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
Brad Montague is an illustrator, speaker, picture book author, video creator, and all-around maker. He’s a self-proclaimed dreamer and doer. Above all, he’s a storyteller, “working to create a better world for kids with kids” through Montague Workshop, the creative studio he runs with his wife Kristi in Henderson, Tennessee. Everything he puts into the world, whether the viral web series Kid President, which featured his then 9-year-old brother-in-law giving soul-buoying pep talks, or...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator, lecturer, and published essayist (see The Black Experience in Design anthology, a must-read). Garbutt works at the intersection of co-design practices and making huge, mind-bending ideas and histories ring clear as a bell. Garbutt spoke with The Great Discontent about cultural memory as the foundation for their practice, the pains of delegating, and the strength of rooting in a local community.| The Great Discontent (TGD)
When Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor came up with the idea for Ear Hustle, the podcast they’ve hosted together since 2017, Earlonne was serving a prison sentence of 31 years to life—the result of California’s three-strikes law. The two met at San Quentin State Prison where Nigel, a lifelong artist and photographer, was volunteering in the media center. For 13 seasons, Earlonne and Nigel have been sharing the experiences of those living life on the inside—“ear hustling” is prison sla...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the ethos of Luke Zahm. The James Beard-nominated chef, host of the hit PBS show Wisconsin Foodie, and owner of the widely acclaimed Driftless Café in Viroqua, Wisconsin, believes food is a powerful force for connection. Here, he opens up about breaking down colonial mindsets around food, and his drive to learn, unite, and share the histories behind the ingredients he's using to create a new Mi...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer and craftsman George Nakashima. Since his death in 1990, Mira has helmed Nakashima Woodworkers, now a 21-building complex and National Historic Landmark nestled among the trees in New Hope, Pennsylvania, overseeing the production of her father’s iconic pieces while also designing her own. As she writes in her new book, The Nakashima Process Book, each piece is “the culmination of much effort,...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
Yashas is a creative director and ambitious connector. He was also a self-described outsider for much of his life, and his path from Bangalore, India to New York City has been a winding one driven by sheer stubbornness and a keen instinct for creating community wherever he goes. Whether founding the hugely successful storytelling platform Untold or creating award-winning content for some of the largest organizations in the world—Samsung, Asian Paints, W Hotels, eBay, and the U.S. Army among...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong reacted to the racism she witnessed there by launching a successful stock photo agency dedicated to realistic portrayals of cannabis culture. That led to her current and most passionate pastime yet—helping others ...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles, installations, and strategies of surrender, Brian Eno’s work occupies a rare space in this world with an imprint as deep as it is wide. For the Roxy Music founder, art is the kind of surrender we all benefit from, especially when it helps us digest what science discovers. In this vein, he co-founded the environmental charity EarthPercent, which helps musicians support the most impactful organiza...| The Great Discontent (TGD)
